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Marika Kato
Marika Kato (加藤 茉莉香, Katō Marika) is the main protagonist of the Miniskirt Pirates/Mouretsu Pirates series and the current captain of the pirate ship Bentenmaru. Appearance Light Novel Marika has long pink/orange hair and light blue eyes. Two sections of hair come down either side of her face to chest level and spiral slightly towards the ends. As captain of the Bentenmaru, she wears a black captain's coat with gold highlights, open at the lower and upper front, and the lower rear. The coat has white cuffs with gold highlights, shoulder guards, a plated section hanging around the left shoulder, and white frills along the open sections, the ends of the sleeves and the neck. An oversized belt at the waist holds her sword. She also wears a bicorne with the same colour scheme as the coat, with a pirate emblem in the middle of the front, white frills along the top and tuft coming out the middle-left side. She also wears a red checkered skirt and black boots. Over the course of the novels, certain details of Marika's design have been changed along with the general art style (as seen on the covers), such as her facial design, her hair colour and the emblem on her hat, becoming a little more similar to her anime design. Anime Marika has light blue eyes and long orange hair that extends slightly above her waist. She usually wears two hairclips on a clump of hair beside her left eye. At school, Marika wears the standard Hakuoh Academy uniform, consisting of a blazer with a white collared shirt underneath and a red ribbon situated at the front of her chest, and a thigh-length skirt. During work hours at the Lamp House and during Yacht Club activities, Marika wears a maid outfit and a blue Yacht Club hoodie respectively. As captain of the Bentenmaru, Marika wears parts of her school attire (namely, the collared shirt, skirt, and footwear) underneath a black coat with gold highlights that is open at the lower front. The coat has white cuffs and frills at the ends of the sleeves and white skull emblems on the upper arms. Marika also wears a pale-yellow ribbon with a green gem-clip, and a brown waistcoat underneath. A black cape with a maroon tint inside is attached behind the coat via the shoulder guards. Her sword is attached to the left side of a red belt at her waist. She also wears a bicorne hat with the same colour scheme as the coat, the secondary Bentenmaru emblem in the centre, a red string at the front-left and a white tuft located at its middle-left side. During the Hakuoh Pirates and Nebula Cup arcs, Marika's uniform sports a few changes, courtesy of her good friend Mami Endo. The usual ribbon on the neck is replaced by a large orange one. The cuffs at the ends of the sleeves become red with yellow frills, and the black/maroon cape is replaced by a white cape that splits into several feather-like ends (with red tips). In Abyss of Hyperspace, during the search for Professor Mugen's legacy, Marika wears a red version of her captain's uniform with a black cape, a green strap going across her right shoulder and a brown belt Mouretsu Pirates: Abyss of Hyperspace. Manga Marika's character design in the web-manga contains elements from both her novel and anime designs. She has blue eyes and long pink-orange hair, with a section curling outwards and a section coming down to chest level on either side of her face. Her captain's uniform consists of a black coat with gold highlights and large gold buttons, white cuffs, frills on the sleeves, a neck-ribbon, and shoulder guards. She also wears a checkered orange-red skirt, boots, a bicorne with a tuft out the side and a pirate emblem on the front, and a red belt around her waist with a sword fastened to it. Personality & Character Marika is cheerful, optimistic and charismatic. She can be naïve and a little clumsy at times, and can come across as a bit of an airhead, however behind this lies a cunning, intelligent and slightly devious persona. She is quite capable of taking into account every option open to her and whatever tools she has available, and utilizing them to great effect, in order to achieve her goals. As a captain, Marika values the safety of her crew and ship above all else, however she is willing to take considerable risks if doing so would be beneficial to them in the long run. She is a hard worker and frequently pushes herself to exhaustion Sailing 19, but she does ask for help when it is necessary. Partly as a result of this, she often oversleeps and is quite difficult to wake up Sailing 16. Skills & Abilities Marika has excellent leadership skills, capable of making quick decisions and sticking to them, and keeps herself relatively calm under pressure. Marika knows what tools she has available and what possible options are open to her, and from that she is able to make the best use of what she has to achieve the best result for herself and her crew. She is intelligent and tries to plan ahead, be it for an enemy's possible actions and a plan for a counterattack Sailing 04 or what her ship will need in the near future Sailing 24. She is also capable of thinking outside the box and coming up with solutions that might not occur to other people Sailing 05. Dependable and hardworking, Marika will always see her tasks through to the end. Her cheerful attitude and charm also helps to bring people to her side. Marika is a skilled pilot,impressing Kane during a dinghy simulation Sailing 01 and dodging machine gunfire from the Bisque Company during the Nebula Cup Sailing 21. As of Abyss of Hyperspace, she is also a licensed shuttle pilot . Marika is also trained in swordplay, handling firearms, hand-to-hand combat, spacewalking, electronic warfare, navigation and model-making Sailing 06. As the Bentenmaru's captain, she is familiar with her ship's systems and their operation, and as a member of the yacht club, she has experience in operating systems aboard the Odette II. She also experience with waitress work and making parfaits from her part-time job at Lamp House. After finding the Kato family's secret recipe, she was also able to cook her mother's pot-au-feu without trouble . Relationships Ririka Kato Marika and Ririka have a fairly relaxed, trusting and friendly mother-daughter relationship. Marika rarely calls Ririka 'Mother', and instead refers to her as 'Ririka-san'. Ririka is also the person that Marika admires the most, seeing her as a mountain that she seeks to stand tall beside Sailing 07. Ririka is fairly content in letting Marika choose the path she takes Sailing 25, though she will prepare her with the skills and knowledge that will help her along the way. This was the case when Marika learned of her pirate heritage and chose to become captain of the Bentenmaru Sailing 02Sailing 15, eventually going even further than Ririka expected . Marika and Ririka are mostly fairly open with one another, though Ririka has kept a few things secret from Marika at times, such as the details about her father and heritage Sailing 26, the Kato family's pot-au-feu recipe , her new field of work and certain events taking place behind the scenes Sailing 20Sailing 22. Mami Endo Mami has been Marika's closest friend for quite some time, having known her since at least middle school Miniskirt Pirates Volume 1, Pg.70. Marika oftens talks with Mami about the various events and troubles that she is experiencing in her life, both as a high school student and a pirate captain, and Mami tries to help her as much as she can. Mami began accessorizing Marika's captain uniform after Marika officially accepted her position as captain. As well as adorning Marika's uniform with various accessories, she has also made several new uniforms for Marika and various outfits and costumes for the yacht club . Chiaki Kurihara Marika and Chiaki met the day after Marika learned of her pirate heritage, with Chiaki having come to observe the future Bentenmaru captain . As the two worked against the enemy targeting Marika, they soon developed a friendship (one which Marika is more open about than Chiaki) Sailing 03. As the series progresses, Chiaki teaches Marika many things regarding piracy, and becomes very impressed at how Marika deals with certain situations. Chiaki has a deep fondness for Marika, though she denies it and expresses annoyance when people tease her about it . Marika is also very fond of Chiaki, never failing to greet her with an excited smile, calling her 'Chiaki-chan' and never disheartened by Chiaki's constant rejections. Gruier Serenity Marika and Gruier's friendship began when Gruier sought the Bentenmaru's help in finding the Golden Ghost Ship Sailing 08. Gruier soon came to respect and admire the young captain's skills and judgement, and was also happy to have someone she could casually associate with as a friend. Marika likewise wished to help her, though she noticed how Gruier seemed to be troubled and went behind her back to ensure a peaceful resolution to the events on Golden Ghost Ship Sailing 11, for which Gruier was grateful Sailing 12. Following the events of the Golden Ghost Ship Arc, Gruier has become very fond of Marika and even decides to stay with Marika to assist her with Yacht Club activities and piracy Sailing 23. Marika is grateful for Gruier's help, though she does sometimes get a little worried how Gruier disregards her position to do so . Grunhilde Serenity Marika's and Grunhilde's first meeting was not the friendliest, being on opposing sides at the time. Following the events that involved Gruier and the Golden Ghost Ship, and an invitation over to Marika's house to have dinner and play, Grunhilde began to hold Marika in the same light Gruier did. Along with Gruier, Grunhilde decides to stay with Marika to assist with Yacht Club activities and even piracy. Hakuoh Academy Yacht Club Marika and the members of the Yacht Club are all good friends with each other, and will not think twice to help each other in their time of need. Marika also proves herself to be a good example to her juniors, giving them her constant support. Misa Grandwood Misa acts as a mentor for her captain, Marika. Though she will often sternly tell Marika when she is about to make a mistake, she also trusts her judgement and will support her to the best of her abilities. Kane McDougal Before revealing Marika's position as the captain of the Bentenmaru, Kane is assigned to be Marika's homeroom teacher at school, with the premise of scouting Marika's abilities ahead of time. Kane also serves as one of Marika's pirate trainers, considering that Marika knew nothing about being a pirate. At one point, Marika has told Kane that she is sometimes unsure about how to address him, since he used to be her teacher at school. She then adds that the uncomfortable feeling stays because he still talks to her politely regardless of his position Sailing 22. Coorie Marika and Coorie have a fairly relaxed and friendly but professional relationship, much like with the rest of the crew, both respecting each other's abilities. Coorie is also one of Marika's tutors for electronic warfare, alongside Hyakume. Schnitzer Marika's and Schnitzer's relationship is mostly professional, though the two can be casual to one another. They both respect and trust each other and their abilities. Hyakume Much like with the rest of the crew, Hyakume respects Marika as his captain, acknowledging and believing in her abilities. He is also one of Marika's tutors for electronic warfare, alongside Coorie. Luca Luca doesn't interact with Marika very much aside from work-related stuff, but that isn't any different from anyone else, given how focused she is on her work and is mostly indifferent to everything else . Despite this, Luca does respect and acknowledge her captain's abilities like the rest of the crew, and Marika respects and acknowledges her in turn Sailing 14. San-Daime San-Daime does acknowledge and respect his captain like the rest of the crew, but is not quite as confident as the rest of them . While he is impressed with his captain at times Sailing 10, he is also frequently panicked and dismayed at some of her more reckless actions, in particular those that put the ship at risk Sailing 17Mouretsu Pirates OST Audio Drama 3. Marika acknowledges San-Daime's skills and respects him like the rest of her crew , though she will occasionally tell him off, such as when he was looking at a new addition to his teddy collection rather than getting on with work . Kanata Mugen Marika acts as a sort of mentor for Kanata during their time together, giving him support and advice in order to help him decide the path to take. Kanata in turn respects the captain Mouretsu Pirates: Abyss of Hyperspace Drama CD. Marika has noted how the two of them are similar in that their fathers had both died in some far off part of space, their business unknown to them, leaving them with an inheritance and a choice to decide their futures . Trivia *Given that Marika's great-grandfather Bunzaemon Kato was the first to captain the Bentenmaru under the Letter of Marque and that the letter can only be inherited by direct descendants, it can be assumed, providing that there wasn't an interruption along the line, that Marika is the fourth captain to inherit the Bentenmaru's Letter of Marque. References Category:Characters Category:Female Category:Pirates Category:Students Category:Pirate Captains Category:Work in progress